Star Wars vs Star Trek

Kinetic energy is the energy an object has in motion, momentum is the amount of kinetic energy that can be transferred from one object to another. KE is really only useful for telling how much potential energy is making it to kinetic energy and some other higher level physics.

Momentum can tell us a lot, lot more about destructive power than KE can, ie, i could tell you exactly how far back a human being would fly back after being hit by either the cannon ball or the gau-8 round. You cant do that with KE without linking it through momentum.

 

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I think that the ultimate kinetic weapon is the photon torpedo.

 

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So you would agree the GAU-8 Round is more destructive? I mean, when have we seen a cannonball take out a tank

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KE is an indicator of penetration into the target and energy transfer - the damage caused.

Except you don't want the target to fly back at all - you want to put holes in it where it stands (or cause surface damage).

 

I don't want it to fly back OR put holes in it...

I want to detonate it...

:m:

 

Oh ye of little knowledge on the subject, as a matter of fact ballistic gelatin will not triigger the HE fuse, thus flesh won't.

 

And the human body is composed entirely of flesh?
Silly me, I thought it had bones and stuff in it...
Or even a near miss.

 

Both are awesome! Star trek is a TV show though. Not very meaningful comparisons between the two universes.

 

Oh ye of little brainwave activity... when was the last time a soldier went into battle with bare flesh? Last I checked, they wear this thing called "Body Armour" which is hard and non-squishy...

 

And thus you will notice I didn't say EVERYWHERE in the human body. I worded my example very well as to avoid such problems. Those people with a 12 th grade reading level or higher should have gotten it. Though I suppose with the fervopr some of you Trekkies are showing it could be possible you rushed to the offensive without reading fully. In which case you probably would have understood it.

Now for the task at hand while Larger does not always mean more advanced and smaller does not eithe, there are some generalizations.

*Ship and Building size: Bigger is better. If you can build a stable starship that is 1.6km long and is stable you are using superior materials and methods to a culture whose largest vessek is ~600 meters long yet sags under it;s own weight. If you can build a 1500km diameter space station, that is mobile at STL and FTL speed you are superior to a culture who uses 20km tall space statikons that must use stabilizers to keep stable

 

Except that bones are pretty much everywhere in the human body.

No, you made a facile statement - the round would penetrate flesh until it hit bone (especially at 30 mm in calibre).
Or even, like I said, do it with a near miss.

Oh, the irony: you talk about 12th grade reading levels and then accuse me of being a Trekkie...
Any evidence for that?
None, since I'm not.

 

Yet that 1500km diameter space station was taken down by a 15 ft long snub fighter...

Yep, dat de're be sum fine engimehneering skills thar! Woo'hie that larger station shur were better!

NOT.

 

See, this is why I pretty much laugh at him... heh. His only tactics are ad-hoc attacks, insults, and great leaps of illogic.

 

Projectile ballistics and weapon logistics... the caliber of a projectile doesn't apply here. (eg a .45 caliber round has less penetration power than a 9mm because of its larger size, thus the .45 would not go as far into the flesh as a 9mm, of which the latter is a smaller sized round). Surface area has much to attribute to this, however as we all know from physics this also means that there is more surface area to do force, and the mass and force of the bullet is greater in the .45 giving the .45 more stopping power than the 9mm.
However, that is often slightly amended by using a JHP shell over a FMJ.

Depending on the situation, bullets are designed to either penetrate or stop... typically an increase in one is inversely proportional to the other. Most bullets, such as those from automatic rifles, are designed to "tumble" when it hits flesh, that is upon impact it does not go straight through but rather flips and turns and even curves within the tissues, causing hundreds of capillary and arterial/veinular tears and bleeds within, as well as sonic waves/shock impact damage to surrounding tissue.

Dying rarely occurs directly due to the bullet itself (unless they get shot directly in the brain stem/brain) but rather to internal bleeding/hemorrhaging/DIC/spleen or kidney stress/loss of blood/infections/ etc...

 

Hey, could ST even build one in the first place? No. Point still goes to SW for superioor engineering an

So The first one had a flaw, the first of anything tends to have a flaw.



And the X-wing is 12 meters long not 15 ft.

 

LOL, No. My tactics are actuall examination of the film and script, answering the question, and using standard logic.

I admit i do add insults, but that is after I answer the argument and then insult the writer if it was a particularly stupid and inane argument. That's just venting and at least I have not made the comments you have made.

 

That would be why I said pretty much then, you think?

Now you're just grasping at straws.
In general a 30 mm HE/I round is more lethal than a solid cannon ball.

A 35 pdr solid cannon ball could kill someone with a near miss?

No your mistake is assuming you can analyse.

No, a .45 has less penetration because its energy per unit area is lower.
Penetration of human flesh is found by E/A where E=KE and A= cross-sectional area of the bullet (although Ian Hogg suggests that shape factor should also be included)
Hogg, Ian: Small Arms of the World (IIRC).

No they aren't designed to tumble, it's something that can happen but not always - to ALL bullets.
(Google Martin Fackler and look at some his photos and diagrams).
I've even seen footage of .50 cal round tumbling and keyholing.

 

IOW... isn't that what I just said? I think I misworded it... surface of the crosssection of the bullet. And .45s look more clubbed than 9mms, which look sharper at the tip. Thus the force against the bullet would be worked across the entire crosssectional area, which is larger than the 9mm. Also, depending on the weapon you are using and its barrel length... it could have faster or slower velocity, as 9mm's are not only used in berettas but also in mp5s.

Although sniper bullets are usually of large caliber AND velocity, and tend to rip off entire limbs with its massive force... so I guess that falls into the stopping power AND penetration category.

 

A huge number of pistols and SMGs in fact.
(Including M16 variants).

Unless you're talking about AMRs (Anti-Materiel Rifles now finding a role as heavy/ long range sniper weapons) most sniper rifles are around 7.62 mm - considerably less than the .45's 11.43mm.